Herald unveils new web site

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Herald launched a redesigned web site on Tuesday, part of the newspaper’s efforts to improve news delivery and increase its online presence, especially in Central Washington.

“The new site is clean, user-friendly, and it has a lot more options to engage readers,” said Columbia Basin Herald Publisher Eric LaFontaine.

The redesigned website is the result of three months of work by Columbia Basin Herald parent company Hagadone Corp., which owns a number of newspapers in the Pacific Northwest, as well as one in Wisconsin. The new design was first rolled out on the Bonner County Daily Bee, and is slowly making its way to Hagadone’s other newspapers.

LaFontaine said the new website will also allow reporters with the Herald to publish directly to the website, keeping the Grant County publication as current as any other local news operation.

The redesign also makes it easier for readers to find their way to the Columbia Basin Herald’s social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube, and should allow for tighter integration with video news stories as well.

“We no longer have a mobile version, but a format that responds to the screen size of your device,” LaFontaine said. “This creates a more cohesive experience for both desktop and mobile readers.”

The Herald publisher said he hopes the redesigned web site will make it easier for people to read the paper online, and bring more readers to the website.

“I expect it will be tweaked, that we will make changes over time,” LaFontaine said of the new web design.